Mechanical devices, such as household appliances and large commercial devices such as incubators, need to arrive at the customer with a plethora of information. The data can include model and serial numbers, voltage ratings and testing procedures. This data, in order to be helpful, needs to be retained in a safe and secure place. However, with current information retention systems, the information is easily lost or misplaced.
Prior art solutions to this problem have included placing labels on the device. The information that resides on the label usually includes serial and model numbers, voltages, current ratings along with additional information. However, other types of information are not easily tagged with a label. One such piece of information is maintenance history. To further complicate matters, labels on some mechanical devices are not placed in the same location on each and every device. Therefore, it is possible for a person to overlook information that might be contained thereon. Eventually the labels have a tendency to fall off the device or become destroyed. It is even possible that the ink that places the data on the label runs or rubs off when it comes in contact with some type of liquid solution.
To combat some of the above problems, the self-adhesive labels were replaced with metal tags to which the information is stored. However, the tags can be dislocated from the device as well. Another downside to these metal tags is that they are more expensive than the self-adhesive labels.
Another solution to include the information with the device is to attach paper documents to the device itself. In some instances, these information guides are placed in a folder, which itself is attached to the device. However, the same problem that plagues the labels plagues this solution as well. The document, like the labels, are easily lost or misplaced.
These devices, themselves, from time to time fail and are in the need of repair. Current practices have been to call someone familiar with the product and have them diagnose and repair the problem. However, for some problems, the repairperson is similar to a doctor in that he must begin to gather relevant facts to aid determining the problem. With certain types of equipment, the repairperson must be familiar with it in order to solve the problem. Furthermore, the repairperson is usually only armed with a digital multimeter to aid in diagnosing the problem. A person unfamiliar with the product would need the instruction manual along with the digital multimeter to begin to diagnose the problems.
Other difficulties are initial and on-going, calibration of the equipment to specific parameters. The equipment has to be maintained to run at the correct temperature, sensor and battery levels. The prior art maintained the settings with individual switches where the setting could be adjusted. However, the switches are located in a multitude a locations on the mechanical device.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an apparatus or method for storing and retrieving this information in a fast and efficient manner. There is a further need to store this information in a secured central location. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide this method and apparatus through the use of a processor, memory and remote receive and send capabilities such as infrared.